Advertisement

Spacewalk 'truly incredible' but Tim Peake just 'misses the rain'

Tim Peake may have been on a space walk, looked down on Earth, and stared into the vastness of space, but the British astronaut just really misses the rain.

Major Peake may be rethinking his choice when he returns to British summer on June 18 after his six months on board the International Space Station (ISS).

Speaking during a press conference from the ISS Maj Peake added that he will "cherish forever" the "truly incredible" space walk he made with American colleague Tim Kopra.

When the pair stepped outside the ISS in January to make repairs they were given 10 minutes of free time as they waited for the sun to set behind planet Earth.

Mission control in Houston told us that we had 10 minutes to hang out, take photographs and wait for the sun to set. That is unheard of on a space walk when normally every minute is accounted for.

That was truly incredible, just to be able to explore that part of the space station and look down on planet Earth, and also look behind me and look out into the darkness and the vastness of space while outside the space station. I think that really is a moment I will cherish forever.

– Tim Peake

Maj Peake's comments were made via a live link to the Times Cheltenham Science Festival, where he also listed the success of educational outreach programmes aimed at schoolchildren as one of his mission's greatest achievements.

I think we've reached over a million children across the UK which is truly remarkable. I hope that certainly will help to have an impact in inspiring our future scientists and engineers.

– Tim Peake

In one experiment, children at thousands of schools will grow rocket plants from seeds that were exposed to weightless conditions on the space station.

Looking ahead to the future, past his first shower and spending "private time" with his family, Maj Peak said he believed "space is going to play an ever increasingly important role in our lives".

In further comments made, Maj Peake said he would be "rooting for England" in the Euro 2016 football championships, but refused to be drawn on where he stood on the EU referendum.

My views on Brexit are personal views and I don't feel the need to impart them on anybody else.

In terms of co-operation and partnership .. I'm here floating in the most incredible achievement of not just European co-operation but international co-operation, and this space station would not exist if it wasn't for all the international partners and what they have managed to achieve despite their political differences .. Hopefully that will continue into the future of space exploration as well.